[Kerrick]

I have pretty much never charged my phone and used it at the same time. The cord is too short, and cords that are long enough are unwieldy. Plus, the cord sticks out right where my hand wants to hold the phone.

Is this something people actually do in any situation except low-power emergencies?

[astine]

I do this all the time, especially while driving. I plug an aux cord into my phone to listen to podcasts or audiobooks and plug the usb connection into power supply in my car. I wouldn't be able to do a long road trip if I had to switch between these.

[bradlys]

This is a decent amount of people but I think this is increasingly rare as more and more cars have Bluetooth. And it's not hard to update many older cars to newer headunits that have Bluetooth in them. (as I did for some of my cars) or just get a headunit that does power+transmission over USB too.

[NoodleIncident]

You can definitely tell the difference between bluetooth and an aux cord. There's no excuse for using a wireless connection between a phone and a car that are already plugged into each other anyway

[bradlys]

Personally, I dislike having to plug in multiple cords. 3.5mm also doesn't transmit what you're listening to. I find that pretty useful to know. My phone screen is used for other things besides displaying song info.

[larkeith]

Data point: I actively use my phone while plugged in 1+ hour per day, and often use it for 10+ hours of streaming music while plugged in. No 3.5mm jack is a dealbreaker for me.

[dragonsngoblins]

Wanting to listen to music on your phone that is plugged in at your desk seems like a pretty reasonable use case to me

[magduf]

Yep, I've done this many times.

[Rebelgecko]

It's pretty much mandatory for me when on long road trips or flying.

[shkkmo]

Yes, many people do it all the time.

[com2kid]

I do all the time in my car.

One of my cars only has an AUX jack.

[magduf]

To be fair, you having a car with an Aux jack means that you are definitely not in Apple's target demographic, because you're obviously too poor or too cheap. (No offense, I'm explaining this from the point-of-view of Apple and its fans.) Anyone who's a true Apple fan and customer would happily trade in their older car for a new one with CarPlay just so their brand-new iPhone works with it, just like a true Apple customer would happily throw away their wired headphones and buy Apple AirPod wireless headphones.

Remember, if you're not into conspicuous consumption, then you just aren't suited to be an Apple customer.

Of course, the problem with all this is when other phone makers ape Apple by copying some of these features, somehow thinking they'll gain the cultish customer base that Apple enjoys by doing so.